Minnesota Wins 4th National Championship in 5 Years.

In the postgame interview Amanda Kessel told reporters “I know personally one person can’t make the difference.” With all due respect Amanda, we disagree.

The 2016 NCAA Women’s Hockey national championship pitted the #1 Boston College Eagles against the #3 Minnesota Golden Gophers. This game would determine if Boston College would finish the 2nd undefeated season in NCAA history and win the National Championship or if perennial powerhouse Minnesota would win their 6th NCAA National Championship in school history and 4th in 5 years.

BC was led all season by Alex Carpenter and Haley Skarupa, two of the top 3 point scorers in the country. Minnesota featured leading scorer Dani Cameranesi, National Rookie of the Year Sarah Potomak and comeback story Kessel. Both teams feature great goalies; BC record holder for lowest Goals Against Average Katie Burt and the defending national champion goaltender Amanda Leveille.

Kessel won the Patty Kazmaier Award and led the undefeated Gophers to the 2013 national championship. Kessel red shirted during the 2013-2014 season to play with the US National team in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She was then unable to play during the 2014-2015 season while recovering from a serious concussion. Kessel returned to the Gopher lineup February 5th against North Dakota and was the spark that Minnesota needed to win another national title. In 13 games since her return, Kessel has scored 11 goals and added 6 assists while the Gophers went 11-1-1.

Starting Lineups

Boston College (40-0-0)

Forwards: Kenzie Kent, Alex Carpenter, Haley Skarupa

Defensemen: Megan Keller, Kaliya Johnson

Goaltender: Katie Burt

Minnesota (34-4-1)

Forwards: Sarah Potomak, Hannah Brandt, Amanda Kessel

Defensemen: Megan Wolfe, Lee Stecklein

Goaltender: Amanda Leveille

The National Championship

All of the excitement, all of the games that led up to the national championship, were in the past as Alex Carpenter and Hannah Brandt took the opening faceoff. Brandt won the face off and shot the puck into the zone. Burt corralled the puck and sent it behind the net. Brandt continued behind the net as well, got the puck and passed it back out front to Sarah Potomak who slapped the puck past Katie Burt’s glove side. 13 seconds into the game, the Golden Gophers were on the board and the Eagles were playing from behind.

Minnesota controlled the first 10 minutes of the game. Kelly Pannek almost put home a loose rebound for the Gophers and Potomak almost put number 2 in as well, but Katie Burt stood on her head and kept the score 1-0 until the Eagles offense could get some traction.

BC trailed in Shots on Goal 10-4 half way through the period, but they seemed to turn on the offense shortly after that getting back to back shots from Skarupa and Carpenter. Then Megan Keller sent a blast toward the net, the shot came off a defensemen's body, and Leveille had to jump on it to keep the Eagles from getting the rebound. The period still ended 1-0 in Minnesota’s favor.

To start the second period, the Eagles got a great opportunity to tie the game as Stecklein took a penalty for interference followed by 2 minute high sticking penalty on Wolfe. However, 40 seconds into the 5 on 3 Newkirk took a penalty for holding. The rest of the period saw some great shots from both teams, but Burt and Leveille could not be beat.

At the start of the third period, only down 1-0, BC was not out of the game. 1:30 into the period BC’s Dana Trivigno took a 2 minute penalty for cross checking. Minnesota, trying to put the game away had Stecklein sitting deep in the zone on the power play and almost got a piece of a backside pass, but Burt just got a piece of it for a great save. The Eagles killed the penalty and attacked the net with multiple shots in the first half of the third period.

However, 8:30 into the third Amanda Kessel put the dagger in the heart of the Eagles. Kessel took the puck across to the middle of the zone and buried a slapshot in the back of the net. Potomak who was later named Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four was credited for the assist. BC continued to put shots on Leveille to no avail. With 6:48 to go Kelly Pannek made a great play on a rebound and helped Minnesota put the game out of reach. Makenna Newkirk would keep Leveille from recording a shutout by making a beautiful play for a goal past Leveille’s glove side.

Boston College Postgame

After the game BC Head Coach Katie Crowley tried her best to hold back her emotions as she answered questions about her seniors. “These 6 seniors have given so much to the younger players and have shown them how to be a BC hockey player.” When asked what was said in the locker room to her team, Crowley said “This team is a special team and has done special things for this program and we talked about what those 6 seniors gave and every 23 players gave this year to take a huge step in our program.”

In response to how she plans to move on next year without her seniors she said “It’s going to be tough, but what they’ve passed on to these players and to the Newkirk’s, and to Andie (Anastos), showing them how to be great leaders and how to play Boston College hockey and you just hope that that trickles down to the Freshmen next year and hopefully that will carry on their legacy and what they’ve done for this program.”

Minnesota Postgame

The Minnesota players and Head Coach Brad Frost were very excited after the game to discuss their team and their 6th championship. Frost said “It never gets old, we’re so excited and so grateful to win the 2016 championship it’s somewhat surreal. Just so proud of our team and how they’ve come together in the latter half of the year.” The veteran Kessel spoke like a proud upper (upper) classmen “I’m very proud of our team, everyone battled hard, we laid it all out on the line and I couldn’t be happier with our team’s effort.”

Frost on the return of Kessel said “Our hope was that she would come back to school and graduate, she was a year away from that. Knowing what she went through for a year and half, I just felt like it was an extreme long shot and quite honestly I tried to keep myself from thinking about whether she’d make it back or not. She started practicing with us again in December and you could see the light back in Kess’s eyes and she was back to who she is and what she’s born to do.”

Frost and Kessel both made specific mentions to Leveille’s accomplishments over the course of her career. The modest goalie however said “It’s an honor anytime you get to put the M on whether it’s the practice or game jersey and to play in a national championship and you go on the ice and look around and see your teammates and the talent, for a goaltender like myself it just gives me confidence and I truly believe all goaltender stats are a reflection of the team.”

Leveille’s modesty has rubbed off on Potomak who also passed off the credit for an amazing game “It’s pretty easy when you play with Kessel and Brandt and when you have Lev in net, you have so much confidence out there, so to be honest I thought it was a great team win and if Hannah didn’t pass me the puck, it never would’ve went in the net.”

In the end, the Frozen Four had some amazing players who will move on to the professional level next season. The Frozen Four included amazing games between the top 4 teams in the country. Both teams playing for the national championship will return great underclassmen next year and will begin the long journey of trying to win a national championship all over again in the fall. One team took home the championship trophy this weekend, but the fans that watched these two great teams play, will always remember the amazing game that was played on the ice in Durham New Hampshire.